Disc-golf is one of the fastest growing sports of the past 10-15 years. Disc-golf is played in a manner similar to traditional golf, but instead of striking a golf ball with a series of clubs from a tee-off area, along a fairway and to a putting green and into a cup, a player of disc-golf, with a hand-throw, flies a disc from a tee-off area toward a target that is generally in the form of a “target-basket”. The target-basket may be 250 to 450 feet away from the tee-off area. The player's first throw seeks to place the disc as close as possible to the target-basket, and the next several throws seek to have the disc come to rest within the target-basket. Disc-golf provides for delightful social interchange between players with a competitive component, and at a fraction of the cost of traditional golf. Folks have a lot of fun while playing this rapidly growing sport.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,921,551 that issued on Jul. 13, 1999 to Dunipace shows a typical disc-golf target-basket that includes a center post, a lower basket on the center post, an upper basket positioned above the lower basket. An upside-down cone-shaped chain rack extends from a perimeter of the upper basket toward a center of the lower basket. As a disc impacts the chain rack, the disc stops its horizontal motion and drops into the lower basket to complete the playing of a hole. U.S. Pat. No. 7,500,675 that issued on Mar. 10, 2009 to Sandman, shows an improved “Portable Disc Golf Target”, wherein a similar light weight cord rack utilizes a weighted ring at a bottom of the rack to reduce overall weight, and includes collapsible support features to make it easy to move the target. Sandman also claims “a portable flying disc game” that is typical of outdoor, big disc golf.
Such big disc-golf requires many acres for outdoor playing on a disc-golf course and requires a substantial level of skill gained by repeated playing of big disc-golf games. Because the game is played virtually always outdoors, players are unable to play in northern climates during winter season and other periods of inclement weather. Additionally, the cost of acquiring and maintaining a sufficient land area for a big disc golf course limits access to and growth of traditional big disk golf courses.
Accordingly, there is a need for a disc-golf game and related equipment that provides an opportunity for players to engage in an entertaining, competitive sport that provides for social interchange, that can be played indoors or outdoors, in daylight or after sunset, that can be enjoyed by highly experienced disc-golf players as well as by players that are brand new to the game, and that can also act as an introduction to disc-golf for new players.